Airgun Silencers ("Airgun Sound Moderators, Sound Dampers, etc.") (This includes Paintball Silencers!!) Reprinted, with permission, with updates and corrections, from Silencers on Airguns, by Robert Beeman 1999, Airgun Revue 5, p. 43, Updated 20 August 2008 See below for the latest update on an airgun silencer* case: THE OWNER IS GOING TO JAIL FOR AT LEAST 15 YEARS!! See note below on new ruling by BATF (ATF) -somewhat good news. *(It really doesn't matter if the sound reducing device is built in or attached, nor does it matter whether it is called a silencer, moderator, muffler, sound dampener, or whatever - or even if it was built so that a single discharge on a firearm will destroy it.. An airgun with a silencer almost surely is another arrest or lawsuit waiting to happen! At best, the owner of an airgun silencer may come out of court with only a few thousand dollars in legal costs and a felony record for a suspended sentence!

The fact that many have been sold on the open market will not excuse the violation nor reduce the fact that the silencer user has given airgunning a bad name and a further push toward onerous restrictions!)) See note below on the first criminal case in the USA regarding an airgun silencer! Bad news! And see the author's note of 26 April 2006 for a possible, even probable, final solution to this problem! Also appearing as Airgun Silencers - A Hazard to Your Legal Health? by Robert D. Beeman, 2002, Airgun Illustrated October 2002: pg. 100-102. See notes added to the end of this article. Preface First, off - let it be clear that I love silencers, on firearms or airguns. My fascination with them began in the 1950s when the owners of the Krico firearms factory in Germany handed me a special Krico bolt action .22 caliber firearm rifle. It looked rather ordinary, with a barrel diameter a bit larger than typical, perhaps a target weight barrel.

We went to their test firing tunnel and they loaded the rifle and asked me to carefully aim it and fire at a fresh paper target about 50 feet away. When I pulled the trigger, I heard the action click, but felt that the gun must not have discharged. Upon checking the target through the spotting scope, I saw a bullet hole right about where I had been aiming! A silencer arrangement, or "shroud" had been built right inside the barrel of this special model! In Germany, it is extremely difficult for an ordinary citizen to own this model. However, in England and France, silencers are considered as a way to prevent the public nuisance of firearm or even airgun noise. What harm is there is not disturbing the neighbor when you are safely firing your gun in the backyard or basement? My brother, Gary, and I have desperately wanted one of those silenced Krico rifles for years. Under the federal laws of the USA, in some states it is only necessary to pay $200 for a special silencer transfer tax in order to own a silencer. This tax was established by the National Firearms Act of 1934 with the intent to make the tax "cost prohibitive".

The fee has not changed since 1934, but $200 is no longer very much money! However, under the laws of California and many other states, it is impossible for an ordinary citizen to have a silencer - built-in or as an attachment to the gun - even if he is eligible to apply for the federal transfer tax or state permit for a machine gun! So, although it is legal, even recommended and courteous, to own a silencer in some parts of the world, they are highly restricted in the USA - and, fellows, this article basically is directed to those of us who live in the USA! It doesn't matter what we think, what the always present "talking heads" at gun shows, etc. say, or how we wish things to be; what we are talking about is what the laws here actually say and what the American legislators, authorities, and the public (at large or in juries) think! Silencers in the USA Gun silencers, or discharge sound moderators, as they are more correctly called, are designed to slow and dissipate the sudden expansion of the gas that propels a projectile up the bore of a gun.

In the most effective arrangements, the release of some of this pressure begins to occur through holes in the barrel, which vent to a surrounding pressure dissipating chamber, even before the projectile exits the muzzle. The pre-1940, less- effective silencers were aided by a ï¿½wipeï¿½, a flexible sheet of material through which the projectile must push upon exiting the moderating device. This wipe gives a better seal to the gases whose dispersal is slowed and thus more thoroughly damped by baffles and/or sound absorptive material within the moderator. Today's improved models use less volume, have better designed baffles, and may add new ablatives to give even greater sound reduction without the use of old-fashioned wipes. T A good silencer can be quite effective on firearms whose projectiles are sub-sonic, that is below the speed of sound (about 1100 fps under most circumstances). Supersonic projectiles generate their own pressure wave which can make a cracking sound at each object that it passes.

Air gun silencers (airgun moderators) use similar principles as firearm silencers but, because of the low energy of airgun pellets, and the delicate nature of their flight, they generally do not use any form of wipe. Gun silencers are fairly popular in countries where they are legal. Originally designed to reduce the discharge sound of firearms, they have now appeared in several versions for airguns. Silencers are also known as sound moderators, sound suppressors, sound dampers, sound dampeners, sound modifiers, discharge expansion chambers, barrel shrouds (perhaps the most obviously devious name of all), and a variety of other contrived names. A silencer by any other name is still a silencer! Regardless of their labels, they are all the same in the eyes of the law- if the device, even if removed by destroying the gun to which it is attached, will reduce the discharge sound of a test firearm by one decibel, it is a silencer. What about silencers in the United States? Well, first, before an American gets too excited about having an airgun silencer or air gun moderator, it should be noted that these devices have almost no effect on spring piston airguns.

I installed two of the models, that are considered to be extremely effective by British airgun authors, on a Beeman R1 magnum air rifle and a Beeman/Feinwerkbau Model 124 Sport air rifle. I had two keen eared observers face so they could not see the guns and I proceeded to fire these two guns, with and without the silencers attached. The observers, at both near and far distances from the guns, were completely unable to tell which shots involved silencers and which were fired from bare gun muzzles. The reason for this is simple: spring piston guns do not release a large amount of high pressure air into the atmosphere when they are fired. Rather they literally use only a handful of air as a cushion between the pellet and the real source of the power, the mainspring behind the piston with its air seal. The controlled expansion of a spring is almost silent. If the barrel has enough volume to roughly contain this small volume of air when expanded the report will be quite low (however, even spring piston air rifles with very short barrels can have an objectionably sharp report). Therefore, airgun silencers are virtually useless on the majority of adult airguns.

It is amusing to see that a very few airgun makers and/or sellers have gone to promoting silenced ("dampened") spring-piston airguns - a type of gun on which such devices have almost no effect - except on sales! The normally low discharge sound of such airguns leads the buyers to think that they really have a silenced gun! Some silencers can be effective on pneumatic and CO2 airguns because the discharge of compressed gas from these guns is somewhat similar to the explosive release of gases from a firearm. But then we get to consideration number two. That is, their legality and public acceptance in the United States. Most public opinion, and several state and federal laws, most notably U.S. Code, Title 26, Section 5845, are strongly opposed to firearm silencers. While their use may be considered a matter of neighborly courtesy in countries like England and France, these devices here are equated with Mafia or terrorist weapons and terrible tools of violence. In some places, airguns already have been grouped together with firearms and are now fully banned or severely regulated.

Airgunning needs all the public support that it can get to prevent that treatment here; the very negative general public reaction to silencers in America should be reason enough for most thinking airgunners to avoid association with silencers/moderators/shrouds. Just being legal or just being right is not a good enough basis for bringing discredit to yourself or your peers - even if you don' t care about your finances or mind spending some time in jail while your case is resolved!!! It is illegal for most persons, without very special permits or certain law enforcement status, to even possess devices which meet the definition of silencers or sound moderators or "dampeners". Under the federal law, silencers are given exactly the same classification as machine guns. In California the law is even more strict, it is possible, but extremely difficult, to get a license to possess a machine gun, but there isnï¿½t even a provision for a silencer/moderator license. In most of the laws, silencers are defined as devices that are capable of reducing the report of a firearm. Reducing has been defined, by federal authorities, as meaning a reduction of as little as one decibel of sound.

According to the highly capable firearms lawyers who have advised me on this matter, the courts could well frown on any device that is CAPABLE of being attached to a firearm which could reduce the discharge sound by even that one decibel for even one shot ï¿½ after all that could be the shot that kills a president. Some airgunners have felt that if their moderator is securely attached to an airgun, or best of all, built into it as part of the airgun, then it would be exempt from these draconian laws. It does not make any difference if the airgun sound moderator is permanently attached or even built in as part of the airgun! There is NOTHING in the law as to what, or how, the device is attached - to discuss that point is just dreaming or at best just an opinion from some officer- with no impact in court!! The talking heads tell each other this excuse over and over. Even the law authorities have noted that a moderator on an airgun, even one built into the airgun, can indeed be removed, perhaps by even machining away the airgun, or unscrewing the permanent-looking barrel shroud unit,, and then adapted for use on a firearm- i.e.

it is capable of moderating the discharge of a firearm - for at least that one decibel reduction for one shot rule. In the law against brass knuckles, there is no mention of allowing their possession if they are permanently embedded in a plastic display block or welded to a metal display plate; it merely says that that possession of brass knuckles is illegal. I am called upon to serve as an expert witness in a great variety of airgun legal matters. If asked, I would have to officially testify that any airgun silencer (or moderator or shroud or whatever other name has been tagged on to it), whether it was removable or built as part of the airgun, would be capable of being used on a firearm. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, affectionately known as the BATF or ATF, is the controlling agency in matters of firearm law, but they have no jurisdiction over airgun matters. How do they feel about airgun sound moderators?

When we asked them, their local agent's remarks supported our lawyers' opinion that any device capable of reducing a firearm discharge, by even one decibel for one shot, is subject to the strict regulations of the silencer laws, regardless of to what it is, or is not, attached. So, although BATF has no jurisdiction over airguns, they do have jurisdiction over devices which could be used on a firearm - and by that amazing federal definition, silencers are FIREARMS! (They certainly were not looking in the dictionary the day that they made that definition!). An American importer, who is importing one of the notoriously loud PCP airguns, recently went through an exhausting series of sample submissions to the BATF to find an airgun sound moderator design that would be acceptable. They turned down every single design, including one that he deliberately designed so that it could not work on an airgun or a firearm! Does this give us any clue on their mindset or how they would testify in a trial? To be sure, even pop bottles and pillows are capable of being silencers. Some folks are claiming that the latest carbon fiber suppressors for airguns are exempt because they would self-destruct on airguns.

However, some of the British makers of these new fiber units wish to reassure you that their units will also work just fine on at least a .22 rimfire firearm! Where a court would rule on the line between what one person might consider absurdity and another might consider reasonable is anybody's guess. No amount of strong opinion and interpretation on our part or on your part is going to make much difference in that! An interesting Catch-22 twist is that, as noted, silencers are legally defined as firearms and thus a silencer on, or as part of an airgun, comes back into the jurisdiction of the BATF - and it will only be a matter of time before some BATF agent acts on that basis! What we need is a clear change of law. A promise not to prosecute, or an opinion that "we would never act on an airgun case", doesn't mean much, if anything, when just ONE officer brings just ONE charge, especially if the ONE charged is you! And, the BATF has staff with the mindset noted above. Unfortunately, given today's political climate, relaxation of a weapon law is unlikely.

And, whether they admit it on not, the National Rifle Association, and other firearm support organizations, often avoid helping airgunners in some legislative or legal areas. Airguns are not protected under the Second Amendment and the firearm organizations have their hands full, and their resources stretched to the limit, with true Second Amendment problems. Although BATF seems to think otherwise, perhaps it is reasonable that consideration should be taken of the fact that an airgun silencer may be attached to an airgun or even built as part of an airgun. A judge reasonably might make such a consideration. If you were tried on a silencer/sound moderator charge, a reasonable judge might rule that although you are guilty of violating the letter of at least one of the several silencer laws, he will suspend sentence in light of the circumstances and possible ambiguity. Great, you donï¿½t have to serve time. But you are now an official felon. You cannot vote or hold most public offices. You cannot obtain security clearances and the felon status really does not enhance your job opportunities or social standing. And, perhaps worst of all, to a real shooter, you cannot possess a firearm, and certain other deadly weapons, or have a concealed weapons permit for the rest of your life.

And, you are left with the legal bills, probably many thousands of dollars, even if you are judged to be completely innocent. Will you volunteer to be one of the test cases that will clear up this matter? The "good news"? Probably you could/should sue the silencer/moderator/shroud seller (especially a large, well-funded mail order company) for your considerable legal costs and some very significant compensation for emotional trauma and damage to your record and reputation. This would be especially true if the seller made any statement to the effect that airgun moderators, esp. built-in ones, are not a legal problem . That is entirely wishful thinking, without any legal basis whatsoever, but such a remark, or even just the failure to clearly warn you of the possible legal risks, could come back to cost the seller tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, even for just one case - justified or not! Such a statement by a seller will not protect the buyer/user, but will make it easier to sue the dealer when some airgunner does get into trouble. There are a number of airgunners who have not felt any adverse effects of possessing an airgun sound moderator, but that simply means that the sword of Damocles has not yet dropped on them.

Many airgunners, like drivers who speed on an unmonitored road, have become complacent in their concerns about law enforcement. If airgun shows were crawling with law enforcement agents, as are most firearm shows, then that sword would have dropped long ago. When will some rigid-minded officer happen by your next local airgun show? Some sellers, or some of the talking heads, at airgun shows, or even on the internet or in mail order catalogs, try hard to convince themselves, and others, that the law about silencers does not say what it does say, that what it says does not extend to certain situations, or that it does not apply to them. Test the courage of their convictions by asking one of these sellers if he will sell an airgun silencer to you with a dated receipt stating ï¿½airgun silencerï¿½ and bearing his name and address! WHEN (not if) the authorities do come to visit a seller it probably will not be a pleasant or casual matter - or just a warning - they have been known for an extremely heavy hand in the past and are now under extreme pressure to not let weapon matters slip out from under them - "anymore".

As it is, most law officers simply ignore airguns as they think that they are "just for kids" and/or they are not clear about the law either. The BATF has tried to avoid any involvement with any airgun matters because they don't have any jurisdiction in that area and most other law enforcement agencies think that it is a BATF and so they avoid this area also. Unfortunately this is changing. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission started proceedings to have airguns with a muzzle velocity over 350 fps declared as capable of ï¿½serious bodily injuryï¿½ and airguns over about 700 fps as ï¿½deadly weaponsï¿½ and move to preventing the manufacture or sale of such airguns. Too many airgunners, even airgun writers, play right into the hands of anti-gunners by referring to their guns as ï¿½weaponsï¿½ or "arms" (see ï¿½Word Gamesï¿½ ). Because of the past indifference of most law enforcement activity to airguns, many airgunners tend to think of themselves and their guns and airgun sound moderators as invisible. You never know when your airgun may be subject to very rigid examination.

What will happen when focus is placed on your silencer-equipped, "deadly force" airgun when it is found in your home or car after an accident, homeland security event, crime event, or during an unexpected roadblock? An actual example: We have a very WASP neighbor who was strolling, post 9/11, down our very remote country road with his wife, and his beloved Beeman R1 air rifle. Evidently in response to a hysterical "man with a gun" call from one of the very few passing motorists, he suddenly was facing a sheriff's helicopter and roadblocks in each direction by four patrol cars and a bullhorn order to "lay down your weapon and spread your arms and legs on the ground". It so happened that his wife was a trauma and stress psychologist for that Sheriff's Department. She smoothed the situation over so that he managed to get his gun back, IF he would return it to his home immediately. Do you think that a silencer/moderator on his "deadly weapon" would have enhanced his situation? The officers in charge would have been obligated to take action, even if they would have preferred not to do so!

If you should, even accidentally, come into possession of a silencer/moderator, even one completely built into an airgun, perhaps the best thing to do is to cut it open length-wise, discard one half, or mill an inspection slot into one side, and make it into an interesting, non-functional display item, not capable of any action. Note added 24 September 2001: Since publishing some of the original parts of the above material (Airgun Revue 5 in 1999), I have had a good deal input about it, but nothing which would indicate that any of it should be changed. My younger brother, Gary Beeman (the well-known falconer), an environmental biologist and avian pest control expert, is working with a California law firm which specializes in gun law. They are working, together with local gun lobbyists, to see if they can change the extremely restrictive California law concerning silencers to get an exception for pest control workers. Their lawyers have reviewed the above article and are in total agreement with its position in regard to federal and state law concerning silencers/moderators on airguns. They state that the only hope is actually changing the law, not in getting a favorable ruling.

In light of current events, and the resulting anti-terrorist perspective, does it seem likely that any sane legislator would want to sponsor legislation which would loosen the controls on silencers?? Or that the courts would now decide to go easier on silencers? If you really want a silencer/moderator on an airgun, move to a state which allows silencers; go through the long and difficult application for a federal permit and pay the $200 special tax. However, in California, the state provided us with permits so that we could legally own (before we sold the Beeman business) several full automatic firearms , "machine guns", (for testing the super tough Beeman Short Scopes - SS2, etc, which had become popular with SWAT and anti-terrorist teams) but we were not allowed even one silencer. Note added 23 March 2002 and 8 Nov. 2003: It has been suggested by some of the infamous "talking heads" of the airgun world that I have taken the negative position of this article because Beeman Precision Airguns does not carry silencers. This idea is so silly that it is absurd.

First, for many, many years, as explained in several of the historical sections of this website, including Lifetime Awards and Adult Airguns in America , Beeman's had over 90% of the American adult airgun market and virtually every foreign supplier of airgun products offered the Beeman company exclusive U.S. distribution of their products first - we consistently refused silencers and moderators. We refused to be involved due to legal, moral, public opinion, and liability concerns. It was our opinion that just the liability of being sued by even one customer who might have to spend thousands to defend himself, even successfully, against a deadly weapons charge, or worse, spend years in confinement, was too much to risk. None of those American dealers who do sell airgun moderators are even 5% of Beeman's volume. Second, this article was posted long after we sold the Beeman company. We presently have no income whatsoever from the new Beeman company; they are a day's journey away, and we have very little communication with them. Their product mix is quite different than when we sold the company in 1993 and we have no vested interest in their products. However, we do know that they have NO interest in selling airgun silencers!

I understand that some shipments of illegal gun devices, including airgun sound moderators and special sound-dampening barrels or "barrel shrouds", have been confiscated at US Customs ï¿½ and lost to both shipper and buyer. Of course, the federal fellows also may follow up and try to cause prosecution at both ends of the shipmentï¿½ and just being logged into the computers as having such involvement in these days of paranoid security considerations could be very bad news. Note added 13 May 2003, updated 7 March 2005: A BATF information release recently stated: "Numerous paintball silencers tested by the Firearms Technology Branch have been determined to be, by nature of their design and function, firearm silencers as defined in 18 U.S.C., Section 921(a)(24)." (Note well that statement was referring to silencers on paintball guns!!) Actually, although many airgun and paintball silencers/sound moderators have been submitted for testing, apparently not one has ever passed - even those intentionally designed by the submitter not to be functional!

Also, the story that BATF has negotiated with the British government to allow entry into the US of silencers built into, or not removable from, airguns is an urban myth, pure wishful thinking, started by a few importers of silenced British airguns. To start with, BATF does not have the authority to do this. Again, test your seller's conviction (no pun intended!) in his beliefs, by asking him to give you that signed and dated receipt, showing his name and address, showing that he has sold you an airgun containing a silencer! Those who think that airgun silencers/sound moderators, or silenced airguns, are imported into this country in significant numbers are looking through the keyhole. Stand up and look around - in the large picture, airgun silencers in the US are almost unknown to the general public and most law enforcement agencies. And, in any case, the expression "but everybody is doing it" has never been a good defense in the real world since you left grade school!

You can talk all day about what your device is called, whether it is built in or attached, and how many of your friends have been "flying under the radar" for years, and you can point to a limited number of such devices, or "moderated airguns" that have been slipping by U.S. Customs and the BATF (because some of their officers THINK, up to some future point, that they do not have jurisdiction), BUT if YOU are charged with possession of a silencer by any officer who indeed wants to prosecute - they DO have an absolutely clear shot at you considering the way the law presently is written. And, under the present world conditions, you will face a hostile environment in court. But, hey, we need some test cases - please step up and be one of the ones who finally get some firm rulings!! If this clears airgun silencers, we will thank you, if not we send our regrets to your cell! (You can expect about ten years of free rent from the prison authorities for a silencer conviction.

The specified penalty is up to 10 years and/or $250,000 in fines.) On November 13, 2005, Robert Silvers, who maintains a pro-silencer website, notes that one ATF office recently has issued an opinion letter (not a law or decision!) about silencers on paintball markers. Go to for a pdf copy of the letter. The two conclusions of this ruling (ATF Ruling 2005-4, dated October 12, 2005)) are, in full: "Held, a device for an unregulated paintball gun, having a permanently affixed, integral ported barrel and other components, that functions to reduce the report of the paintball gun is not a ï¿½firearm silencerï¿½ or ï¿½firearm mufflerï¿½ as defined, as the device is not one for diminishing the report of a portable firearm. Held further, removal of the permanently affixed ported barrel and other components from a paintball gun is a ï¿½makingï¿½ of a silencer under the GCA and NFA that requires advance approval from ATF. " Like Mr.

Silvers, I too am very pro-silencer ï¿½ but perhaps that makes me a latent terrorist! Such is the enormous stigma attached to silencers (and automatic weapons) in these United States ï¿½ esp. now. We, on the inside of the gun world, sometimes have a hard time understanding such strangely strong feelings ï¿½ but I really, really see and feel it when I travel all over the United States and Canada ï¿½ when being employed as an expert witness in airgun legal matters. This is many times each year- NOW, not some distant point in the past! Silvers suggests that perhaps the public would support legalizing firearm silencers as a way of reducing noise pollution and harm to the ears of shooters, using the idea that that is the rationale for requiring mufflers on motorcycles. Putting aside the thought that making motorcycles quieter probably does not allow them, as noted by prosecution lawyers, to be used to quietly kill people inside buildings and from hidden locations, I suspect that many of the public would not care about shooters becoming deaf. In fact, they might wish that somehow they could also be made blind, impotent, and lame.

This opinion letter is most welcome, but it does not provide a slam dunk in clearing silencers for airgun use. This opinion specifically states, most notably in its ï¿½Heldï¿½ summary section that it applies just to paintball guns, and only to those which will be destroyed by removal of the silencer. An aggressive prosecutor would strongly stress that this was the obviously limited intent of the opinion and that it was never intended to apply to airguns which can be deadly. I think that an airgunner, arrested on a silencer charge, might get a court ruling, based on this opinion, with only a few thousand dollars of legal expense, to the effect that his silencer was legal IF it was built into the gun and IF it can only be removed from the gun by destroying the possibility of firing that airgun and IF his airgun could not be readily converted to use firearm ammo. Unfortunately, the British courts have already ruled that some airguns can be converted to firearms. And, unfortunately for this matter, many airguns, unlike most paintball guns, are the same calibers as common firearms and have barrels and actions which could resist the pressures of a single firearm cartridge or powder charge.

The British authorities ruled that even if one needed a machine shop to convert such an airgun ï¿½ that would make it a firearm. So, the good news is that a most welcome step has been made in our favor, but this step applies only to paintball guns with a built-in, permanent moderator. As noted above, it might bail out an arrested airgunner owning an airgun with a built-in moderator; this with only a few thousand dollars of legal assistance and considerable time. For this, we can breathe just a little easier! But remember, that among the vast numbers of fine officers of the law, there are indeed quite a few jerks and some who act without a great deal of thought. In the blink on an eye, you could be the holder of a ticket from one of these fellows - and the problem is then YOURS - and then you had better check your bank balance and calendar to take possible advantage of the this ATF opinion. Hiding in this good news is a bit of unapparent bad news.

While the letter makes reference to the point that a regulated silencer is a device designed to reduce the report of a firearm, it immediately abandons that thought as soon as the device is separate, or easily separated, from the paintball gun. Then the device need only be capable of reducing the discharge sound of a firearm - even by one decibel for one shot! So, this is, in effect, a clear ruling that a separate, or easily removed, moderator, even if clearly designed for airguns, is a firearm silencer if it fails the one shot - one decibel test when tested on a firearm. One of the things that I have learned from sitting for so many, many hours in courtrooms, listening at enormous length to both sides, is that each side sees their position as clearly correct. Each side presents their case, with varying levels of luck, skill, and opportunity and it takes only the whim, bias, impatience, ignorance, or poor decision of a judge or jury, for an instant, to make the ï¿½wrongï¿½ side prevail!! Iï¿½ve SEEN it happen again and again ï¿½ sometimes resulting in millions of dollars in loss and/or jail time for the wrongly accused!

It is so easy for those on each side to kid themselves into thinking that a court will see the matter their way!! We talk to ourselves and preach to the choir! Step back and look hard at some of the airguns which have appeared with built-in silencer shrouds and ask yourself how such military-looking, deadly devices are going to be seen by a jury of the general (read, basically anti-gun) public. I can just see the prosecution attorney holding one of these black guns up high and railing about it to a shocked group of "good citizens". Those airgunners who cannot see the danger here, should get out of the clubhouse more! Note Added 3 April 2006 - America's first airgun silencer case!: We now have America's first case of a person to be criminally charged in Federal Court with possessing an airgun silencer as a "firearm silencer". Because of other commitments, I had to decline a request to serve as an expert witness in this airgun silencer case, but I think that I should bring some of the details to the attention of airgunners everywhere.

The defendant is now imprisoned in Connecticut's MacDougall Correctional Facility and has been in jail since his arrest on June 24, 2004 - almost four years as of this date - and pretrial proceedings are still ongoing!! In x-raying postal packages for dangerous materials, the federal authorities detected the defendant's legally owned .44 caliber Sam Yang pneumatic rifle - not even one of the infamous black guns. A warrant allowed Postal Inspectors to search the package and they found a "sound moderator" in a pocket of the case for this airgun. There were no aggravating circumstances and no evidence that violence of any kind was intended or involved. This device had been specifically built for use on a Sam Yang air rifle and was specially built with fabric insides so that it would be destroyed by use on a firearm. The manufacturer wrote that "It was made for AIR only. It cannot handle the flash of a firearm." However, the ATF laboratory tested it on a Ruger .22 firearm - and it did reduce the sound for one shot - thus meeting the definition of a firearm silencer. Again, that one shot could be killing a president, the Pope, or even Ted Kennedy!

There is the real concern that a judge or jury might not understand any need for a silencer on a "mere, already quiet" airgun and claim that the defendant was using an air rifle "to disguise the shipment of a real live firearm silencer!" The defendant claims that while some state statutes refer to the test of capability of a device to silence a firearm, the federal regulations may depend on the intent of the making of the device. However, a New Haven Federal Court (United States vs. Alpha McQuinn) actually had a conviction for use of a potato on the end of a pistol barrel during a drug robbery. The AUSA argued that it "wasn't there to make French Fries". The new paintball silencer ruling, that I mentioned above, does not depend on the word "capable" but does consider "intention" to use the device as a firearm silencer They even noted that intending to destroy the attached paintball gun to get the silencer would be an "evil intention"! Try proving that your intentions were good!

So, a great deal of legal effort (= a great deal of time and money) may get around the capability definer in this case, but the defense will still have to deal with the intention and the one-shot test. Personally, I think that he should be found innocent of the silencer charge and, fortunately for the defendant, he may be released on the basis of evidence being improperly obtained - so, we may end up without having a clear ruling - even on airgun silencers with fabric/fiber insides! (But see the progress report below - he was sent away for 15 years and there is an effort to extend that to 22 years!) What this case does prove is that we are in even greater danger of having arrests and convictions concerning airgun silencers. The radar is coming closer -the increasingly paranoid authorities obviously are now beginning to be concerned about these devices -and were willing to make an arrest based on a silencer designed for an airgun - complete with the specification that use on a firearm would destroy it!

Combine this with the previous note from the authorities that intending to destroy an airgun to which a silencer is attached, so that this "sinister device" may be used on a firearm, is an "evil intention". The precedent of the above arrest will not be lost on future officers who may be more careful of how the evidence, against YOU, is obtained. Remember, it only takes ONE rigid-minded officer to arrest YOU! (So what if 99.9% of the tens of thousands of officers would not have made your arrest?) While YOU MAY get out, your release will not signal that airgun silencers are okay and does four years in jail and hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal expenses sound like it was worth the tiny advantage of having an airgun silencer?? Some of you readers think that I am just paranoid about the airgun silencer issue. Well, pay attention to the real world: Here are some very interesting notes from Tom Gaylord, probably the best, and certainly the most prolific, airgun writer that world has ever seen.

These are copies from his outstanding airgun blog at (You should also check out another of his blogs at ) FRIDAY, JULY 07, 2006 Airgun silencers Airgun silencers Copy and paste link to share it To earn Bullseye Bucks, make sure you are logged-in to your PyramydAir account when you create this link. Airgun silencers: What's the big deal? by Tom Gaylord exclusively for PyramydAir.com. © Copyright 2006 All Rights Reserved In this article, I'll discuss some of the most important points about silencers. The purpose of this report is to give you the information you need to make an informed decision. The subject of airgun silencers is hotly debated on the airgun forums. There is no agreement about the legality of silencers on airguns in the U.S., and the issue is far more complex than it seems at first. This is the definition of a silencer contained in U.S.

Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 44, Subsection 922: (24) The terms "Firearm Silencer" and "Firearm Muffler" mean any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication. Further wording in the Code defines the silencer to be a firearm that must be serial-numbered and controlled. The use of a silencer in a crime can add penalties to the punishment for that crime, and the possession of an unregistered or unserial-numbered (i.e., homemade) silencer are both crimes by themselves. The law As an American citizen, you may request permission from the federal government to own a silencer. Unlike the right to own firearms, however, owning a silencer is not a right guaranteed under the Constitution. The various states and local municipalities can refuse to agree to your application, leaving you with no recourse.

My research at the time I wrote this article turned up the following 36 states that permit the private ownership of silencers: AL, AR, AK, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV, WI and WY. However, just because the STATE allows ownership is no guarantee that the local authorities will agree. You apply for permission to purchase and own a silencer on ATF Form 4. This is submitted to the National Firearms Act branch of BATF in duplicate, along with two sets of fingerprints from your local police station, two passport photos and a check for $200. Your local chief of police or equivalent law enforcement official is requested to answer two questions on Form 4. If he objects, he does not have to answer the questions and you don't get the silencer - that simple. If there is an appeal process, I was unable to find it.

If you are fortunate enough to get a silencer purchase approved, as I was, then that silencer is yours to use legally for the rest of your life. Pilot screw-on silencer from Advanced Armament, Inc., is one of the most effective separate .22 rimfire silencers on the market. It drops the sound of a .22 rifle by 41dB. With the right adapter, the silencer can be attached to almost any .22. This Ruger Mark II pistol is quieter than a Crosman Mark II when the silencer is on. SO WHAT? We're talking about airguns here! Yes we are, and most airgunners know that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) has jurisdiction over firearms ONLY. In fact, U.S. Code specifically prohibits any federal, state or local municipality from declaring an airgun to be a firearm. Not only do the federal firearms laws NOT apply to airguns, they CANNOT be applied by law! But that doesn't get us out of the woods. However...

IF you have an airgun silencer, and IF it can be removed and installed on a firearm, and IF it then quiets that firearm - that silencer meets the legal definition and is subject to the law. However, in the United States, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty, so it is also necessary to prove intent, as in you intended to use the silencer in your possession on a firearm. Therein lies the problem. At this point, I will cut directly to the chase. When you are tried for owning an illegal silencer, the federal government will vigorously prosecute their case against you. A court case uses a lot of resources, and they don't like to lose. The decision usually comes down to the judge after both sides have presented their case. You probably know that there are some judges who see their duty as interpreting the law, and there are other activist judges who see their duty as rectifying the current social situation - "putting things right," as it were. If you happen to draw the latter kind of judge, the outcome could be devastating. Even if you do happen to win, the time, money and heartache of preparing for a trial isn't pleasant for most people.

Originally, silencers were for personal comfort and courtesy. This is how Europeans view them today, but most Europeans do not own firearms. Image used with permission from FirearmSilencers.com. When it comes to the question of airgun silencers, I have a saying I live by, "I don't want to learn the law while sitting at the defendant's table." Now, I happen to own a legal silencer, and whatever I do with it is my business as long as I obey the law. So, I can put my silencer on a loud airgun to make it quiet, if I want to. I can also sleep at night. What about a moderator? Shakespeare said it best, "A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." Calling a silencer a moderator doesn't change the law. Better read that definition again. I think some people are confused about the difference between a moderator and a compensator. Moderator is the European term for silencer. A compensator is a device that also fits on the end of a barrel to do one or two things. One - it directs gasses away from the tail of a bullet or pellet, reducing any disturbance to its ballistic flight.

Two - it directs gasses upward to counteract the tendency for the muzzle to flip up as the bullet leaves. A compensator exists to improve accuracy, while a moderator/silencer/suppressor/sound attenuation device (or any other name you can think of) is designed to quiet the report of a firearm. What about a silencer that's permanently attached to the airgun? That's okay, as long as it can't be removed with a carbide cutoff wheel, a hacksaw or an oxy-acetylene torch. REALLY? The truth is I don't know and neither does anyone else. I merely point out the absurdity of thinking that something can be permanent. What about a shrouded barrel? AirForce Airguns was the first to market the shrouded barrel with their popular Talon SS . The short SS barrel is housed inside the gun's longer frame, and an end cap strips away the loud noise of the shot as the pellet passes through. It clearly isn't a silencer because there is no device involved. However - a number of johnny-come-latelys are now marketing aftermarket barrel shrouds for guns that didn't have them originally.

Could any of these "devices," for that is what they are, be attached to a firearm and diminish the report? I don't know and, as I said before, I don't intend finding out the hard way. Don't there have to be baffles inside for a device to be considered a silencer? No more than an airgun has to operate on air (i.e., CO2 guns). Baffles were in one of the very first firearm silencers patented by Hiram Maxim in 1909, but there is no mention of baffles in the legal definition. The reason everyone talks about baffles is because they are still an effective way to silence a firearm's report. But baffles are not required. Hiram Maxim's first silencer was pretty advanced for its time. The baffles were already there and formed to hold exploding gasses in compartments. Image used with permission from FirearmSilencers.com. So, what is a muzzlebrake? In the United States, a muzzlebrake is a swelling at the muzzle of an airgun. On breakbarrels, it often gives more leverage for cocking. On other types of airguns, it's decorative.

On a .50 BMG, it's a type of compensator that helps reduce felt recoil. In the United Kingdom, it's a slang term for moderator, which is their term for a silencer. Yeah, but will the government really prosecute? You can play Russian roulette with your life if you want to, but leave me out of it. Yes, the government will prosecute. I know airgunners who have been arrested and had their silencers confiscated. If the government can make a case, have no doubt that they will. I know dealers who have been "visited" by representatives of BATFE because they were selling airgun silencers. You can joke about this with your buddies, but when you are seated facing two or three government agents and forced to have a long, in-depth conversation on a subject you know only a little about, things come into sharp focus. What about airguns that have real silencers built in from the factory? 1. The TX200 Mk III has a shrouded barrel with baffles in the end of it. It is clearly a silencer.

HOWEVER, it doesn't do that much for the TX200, because that airgun isn't loud to begin with, and if someone were to go to the trouble of cutting the shroud and baffles off a TX200 and mounting it on a firearm, they would be insane. Why spend over $500 to get materials you can buy at Home Depot for under $5? Why do WORK to get them, instead of just buying them as pieces? And, why work EVEN HARDER to lash them to a firearm, where they would be hopelessly inefficient because of how they were made and what they were originally designed to do? If the government hates you that much (to prosecute such an unworthy case), they can just hire a hit man and be done with it for far less time and effort. So, the TX200 with built-in silencer is okay! 2. George Bigbore handmakes a .25 caliber air rifle that develops 120 foot-pounds of energy - the equivalent of a .22 Long Rifle cartridge. George is a rugged individualist who talks louder when he's disagreed with.

He likes "living off the grid," though he would be surprised to learn that his lifestyle attracts even more attention and has generated a thick FBI file. George makes and sells a dozen air rifles each year. Some of them have parts that could be removed and put on a firearm to diminish its report. BATFE agents have started their own file on George, but he is such a minnow that they don't even toss him into the pan when frying a bigger fish. Time is on their side, though, and one day old George may cross the line far enough that the government decides to send a message to the other 437 known makers of "fringe" silencers. With their thick file, plus whatever George just did to put himself over the top, it's showtime! Your custom high-power super-silent .25 caliber air rifle made by George Bigbore may have an unregistered silencer on it. If George goes down, he may take you with him. Then you can listen to him complain loudly for hours that the government had it in for him, as you both mop the floors of cellblock B. Why doesn't somebody write to the head of BATFE and request that they make a ruling about airgun silencers?

It's been done - MANY times. The BATFE has no more authority over airguns than the government of Australia has over the United States. Airguns are outside the scope of the Bureau's charter, so they cannot issue any kind of statement about them. Silencers, on the other hand, are their bread and butter. So, if a device can be REMOVED from an airgun and ATTACHED to a portable firearm and diminish its report, that device is then legally defined as a silencer. If that silencer has no serial number, it becomes a firearm without a serial number - the possession of which is a criminal offense. If you made it, you could be found guilty of manufacturing a firearm without a license - another criminal offense. If the judge decides that your legal ownership of a .22 rimfire rifle constitutes the intent to attach your illegal silencer to a firearm, you could lose everything you own and go to prison. I can't sum this up any better than to say I've been summing it up all along. The airgun silencer issue is complex, convoluted and anything but clear. If someone tries to convince you otherwise, don't listen to another word they say.

My thanks to Bob the Gunman for the use of his graphics with this article. Types of Exhaust Silencers | eHow Types of Exhaust Silencers Auto Exhaust image by Digital Photique from Fotolia.com Exhaust silencers, or mufflers, are placed in engines' exhaust systems to moderate the level of sound produced by altering the direction and speed of the exhaust gas flow. This has the effect of reducing noise, but can also depress the performance of a vehicle. Exhausts that have fewer silencers, or silencers that do not impede the flow of gas as much as others, will be louder, but can improve vehicle performance. Changing the exhaust silencing system that came with a car to a performance exhaust can increase your car's power. Multi-Chamber Exhaust Silencers Multi-chamber exhaust silencers are used in the majority of engines and control the noise production of the engine while creating reasonable back pressure levels that do not affect performance of the vehicle unduly. These silencers are used in naturally aspirated engines and in supercharged engines. They are formed of several chambers into which the gas flows sequentially before escaping. Straight-Through Silencers Straight-through silencers are used in turbocharged engines and some naturally aspirated engines.

They pass gas through the center of the silencer in a straight line, so the exhaust gas is not impeded as much as in a multi-chamber silencer. The effect of a rapid discharge of exhaust gas improves the car's performance, and still has an effect on noise levels. Spark Arrestor Silencer Spark-arresting silencers are fitted on engines that are to be used in areas where there is a serious risk of fire. This type of silencer both reduces noise level and removes sparks from exhaust gases before the gas is released. They contain a "spark trap," along with regular silencing chambers. Spark Arrestor Silencers can be added on to an existing engine. They are used in construction equipment, military vehicles, electricity generators, propulsion engines, oil rig equipment and gas compression equipment. Shapes of Exhaust Silencers In order to fit a wide variety of equipment, silencers can come in a number of shapes apart from the regular straight-line exhaust silencer. For example, a silencer can have exhaust gas entering from the top and exiting from the side and vice versa, and gas entering from the top of one end and exiting from the bottom of the other end. Silencers can also have more than one inlet and outlet for exhaust gas if required.

Silencers that are used in engines that are regularly handled, such as hospital equipment, can also have outer insulation to prevent burns from the exhaust heating the metal.

Question: In USA, what do they call the silencer of a car?
Answer: MUFFLER